Clay Hill Memorial Forest, 143 acres of 335 purchased with KHLCF funding.
Much of this tract was schedule to be logged and was purchased as an addition to Clay Hill Memorial Forest, which is a research and educational forest and grassland that is owned and managed by Campbellsville University. This land was originally part of the Clay Hill Farm, which was one of largest plantations in Kentucky totaling over 4,000 acres. The woodland purchased by Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund is a steep forested ravine that leads down to Craig Creek. On the western side of the ravine the forest is dominated by tulip poplar, sugar maple, red, black, white and chinquapin oak, shagbark hickory, American beech, American elm, and Ohio buckeye and on the eastern side it is dominated by tulip tree and sassafras. Like much of Clay Hill Memorial Forest, the slopes provide habitat for a rich spring wildflower display including jack-in-the-pulpit, Jacob's ladder, Allegheny spurge, doll's eyes, bloodroot, trout lily, rue anemone, toothwort, and trilliums.
Clay Hill received the 2018 KHLCF Stewardship Award for their habiat management and environmental education programming.
Access:
Clay Hill Memorial forest has more than 5 miles of trails that are open to the public from dawn to dusk for passive recreation only. From the intersection of US-68/KY-55, turn right onto US-68 and proceed 1.1 miles to KY-289/Old Lebanon Avenue. Turn left on KY-298 and proceed for 8 miles. Clay Hill Memorial Forest is located on the right-hand side of the road.